Chapter 153: Chapter 148: Slowly gathering together.

Yao Jun joined the group of nine people, accompanying them as they started traveling towards the center of the hidden realm. Gao Zhou Wuhan and Yao Duan He were rather indifferent to Yao Jun's presence, only briefly talking to him whenever they had an order for him. In the entire group of nine people, it was actually Zhuang Shao Ju who was the one who was closest to Yao Jun, chatting with him and keeping him company.

Most men would be overjoyed at having a beauty like her be so friendly and close to them, but it only made Yao Jun uneasy when she got so close. To their eyes, there should be nothing remarkable about him, just a weakling at the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth. So why was Zhuang Shao Ju working so hard on getting closer to him? Yao Jun did not know the answer to this question, so he always kept his guard up around Zhuang Shao Ju, ready to flee at full speed if he saw the need.

After traveling with the group for almost a week, Yao Jun and the others were currently resting for a short moment. The ground around them was filled with the corpses of Demonic beasts, their blood dying the snow in a myriad of colors. Over the last few days, the amount of times they had been attacked by hordes of Demonic beasts had skyrocketed.

After everyone caught their breaths and recuperated a little bit, they took the cores of the Demonic beasts and then continued walking. In the front were the people of the Yao clan, then came the people from the Demon Race, then the people of the Zhuang clan, and Yao Jun walked furthest in the back, keeping a bit of distance from the others.

"Stop! No one keep walking!"

After only a few minutes of walking, one of the youths from the Yao clan called out. The two youths that Yao Duan He had brought with him were almost identical, the only thing setting them apart being a mole beneath the right eye of the older twin, Yao Jutai. It was Yao Jutai who had called for the group to stop, looking at the ground a distance ahead of them with narrowed eyes and furrowed brows.

"Did you find something?"

The group stopped the moment Yao Jutai called out, Yao Duan He looking at the spot that Yao Jutai was inspecting. Yao Duan He looked away from the spot after not sensing anything, turning towards Yao Jutai and speaking out. Of everyone in the group, besides Yao Jun who was hiding it, Yao Jutai was the one who was best at finding Demonic beasts, so he acted as a scout.

"There should be something around there. Give me some time to check what it is."

Yao Jutai shook his head slightly, carefully stepping forward and placing his hands on the ground. Yao Jutai had the ability to temporarily borrow the energy of the living beings around him to strengthen himself, so he was far better than most at sensing when there were living beings around them. The reason he had stopped the group was because he had felt a faint sense of life coming from the area ahead of them.

"We should walk around, it's a Devil Vine."

After spending a few minutes with his hands on the ground, Yao Jutai stood up with an ugly expression on his face. Yao Jun stood in the far back, but he was still able to hear what they were saying. Upon hearing the name Devil Vine, he involuntarily cocked his head slightly, finding that he had not heard about it before.

"Tch, something like that all the way out here? Just what kind of things have happened in this hidden realm? You hear him, we have to take a small detour to get around it, lead the way, Jutai."

Yao Duan He's face twisted slightly as he clicked his tongue and furrowed his brows. He turned towards the rest of the group and spoke, and then turned to Yao Jutai and nodded his head, indicating for him to lead the way around the Devil Vine.

"Are you curious about what a Devil Vine is? Want me to tell you?"

While Yao Jutai was leading the group in a detour around the place where he said there was a Devil Vine, Zhuang Shao Ju slowed down slightly until she walked next to Yao Jun. She looked at him with a somewhat teasing expression, speaking in a low voice and dragging out her words.

"Would you mind? I have spent most of my life wandering, so I don't really know a lot about the various types of Demonic beasts."

Yao Jun put on an awkward expression, as if he was ashamed at the fact that he was a wanderer. With Zhuang Shao Ju getting so close to him, he raised his guard further, but he was also curious about what a Devil Vine was, to make even Yao Duan He agree to changing the course.

"Of course I don't mind. A Devil Vine is a plant type Demonic beast that can only be born in places where the land has been drenched in blood, a place where countless living beings have died. Because it is born in such a deadly environment, it has an equally deadly ability, it can absorb the life-force and Qi of other living beings. Because of this, even a weak Devil Vine is something very few people want to battle."

Zhuang Shao Ju let out a crystal clear chuckle and started explaining what she knew about the Demonic beast known as Devil Vine. Since it could absorb life-force and Qi, even a weak on could drain some of the life-force of a strong cultivator, lowering their lifespan. No one was willing to risk losing some of their lifespan, so most people simply avoided Devil Vine's whenever they could.

"I see, thank you for enlightening me."

Yao Jun put on an enlightened expression and nodded his head a few times. At the same time, he was also curious just how much blood had to be shed for a plant to turn into a Demonic beast. Would hundreds have to die? Or did it require thousands of people to be slain?

"No problem, Xue-Xue."

Zhuang Shao Ju put a smile on her face as she responded, but her words did not come out from her mouth, they instead rang directly inside Yao Jun's ears, shocking him somewhat. Not just the fact that she had sent her words directly into his ears, but also what she had called him, both things shocked him slightly.

"You don't know how to send your words like this? It's very simple, you gather your Qi in your mouth and then speak the words you want to send, then send the Qi to the person who you want to hear the message."

Seeing Yao Jun barely reacting and not responding, Zhuang Shao Ju sent her words into his ears once more, explaining to him how to do the same. Most clans and sects would teach people how to use this technique, as it made it easy to communicate secretly.

"Xue-Xue? I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand that nickname."

Yao Jun did as she said, sending his Qi and the words directly into Zhuang Shao Ju's ears, putting on a confused expression as he tilted his head. As he was not really part of any clan or sect, relying on himself to cultivate and grow stronger, he knew very few ways of using his Qi outside of combat.

"You don't? But your name is Xue Jun, isn't it? That's what Burly Jun, Wei Zhong Jun, told me at least. He was quite descriptive about your appearance. Although, he never told me that you could use ice. Did you perhaps keep it hidden from him in case things went awry?"

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Zhuang Shao Ju had an all-knowing smile on her face as her eyes stared straight at Yao Jun, her words ringing out in his ears. When he heard her mention Wei Zhong Jun and the name that he had used when he traveled with Wei Zhong Jun, Yao Jun's entire body subtly tensed up, strength gathering in his legs as he prepared himself to flee immediately depending on what was going to happen.

"No need to tense up like that, the others don't know about it. They might guess that there is something special about you, but they don't know about your actual strength and abilities."

Zhuang Shao Ju took half a step backwards and spoke with a smile, pointing at Yao Duan He and the others who were walking ahead of them. Since the two of them were walking all the way in the back, the others were not able to see their actions, only knowing that they were chatting together, something that had already become common.

"How did you figure it out? Wei Zhong Jun should believe that I was dead."

Yao Jun's expression dropped slightly as he spoke, his eyes growing sharp, no longer carrying the polite and somewhat awkward expression he had put on these last few days. The last thing Wei Zhong Jun had seen of him was when Yao Jun was sent flying by the powerful Demonic beast they were battling. Since it would not be normal for people to survive that, he had guessed that Wei Zhong Jun should believe that he was dead.

"He did indeed assume that you might be dead, but as he had not seen your body, he was not certain. Just knowing your name and appearance was not enough to be sure, there are plenty of appearance changing techniques after all. But seeing how unfazed you were when facing our group, I became almost completely certain that you were the same person. And you just confirmed it as well."

seeing Yao Jun no longer bother with the pretense, at least in front of her, Zhuang Shao Ju responded with a smile. Wei Zhong Jun had seen Yao Jun burst forth with more strength than he should be able to, so he had a guess that Yao Jun might have been able to survive that final attack.

"I believe I put on a pretty scared appearance when you first showed up, though? I have even been acting nervous and scared in these last few days."

Yao Jun raised an eyebrow when he heard Zhuang Shao Ju say that he had been unfazed when facing them. He had constantly been wearing an awkward and nervous expression while around them, so how could she say that he looked unfazed?

"Indeed, your acting is also very convincing, eight out of ten. But that is not the kind of unfazed that I am talking about. In this group you have three direct Yao clan descendants, three direct Zhuang clan descendants, and three high ranking people from the Demon race. The Demonic beast bloodline in all nine of us is incredibly potent, most normal humans or lower ranked Demonic beasts would be quivering and shaking just from standing near us. But you are completely fine. Why is that, I wonder?"

The laughter of Zhuang Shao Ju rang out in Yao Jun's ears as she raised eight fingers. After she put down her fingers, her smile grew curious as she stepped closer to Yao Jun, directly whispering into his ear as she glanced at Yao Duan He and Gao Zhou Wuhan in the distance.

Yao Jun tensed up further, the strength already gathered in his legs heading towards the bursting point. His right arm also tensed up, his sword ready to appear at any moment. At the same time he also realized his mistake. When faced with the bloodline of a powerful Demonic beast, most people would cower in instinctive fear, unable to even move or breathe properly. But Yao Jun held the Demon God's Gate, so he had no need to worry about this.

"Like I said, no need to tense up like that. I have no intention of telling the others anything. After all, we might travel together, but we are not allies. Keeping a card like you hidden for when things might go wrong is for the better. So do your best not to get found out by them."

Zhuang Shao Ju stepped away from Yao Jun, a sweet and seductive smile on her face as she sent her words into Yao Jun's ears. She acted sweet and innocent a lot, but she had a few schemes of her own. To ensure that she would get as much as possible out of the trip they were currently on, she recognized that it was best to keep Yao Jun's strength a secret. That way she could have him help her during a moment where his strength would come in handy. If he refused to help, she could just tell Yao Duan He and the others that Yao Jun was keeping his true strength a secret, probably to ambush them while they were not paying attention.

"How much further do we have to go? Can't you tell that Burly Jun to find a better place where we can meet up? Or even better, have him come to us."

Zhuang Shao Ju walked over to Yao Duan He and the other people from the Yao clan. The one she spoke to was the younger of the two Yao clan twins, Yao Minghao. He apparently had a power to create miniature clones he could use to scout. Using these clones, they were able to stay in contact with the other important groups in this hidden realm where most types of communication treasures didn't work.

"It will still take us around four or five more days to reach Senior Zhong Jun, but he has promised that he will take care of the Demonic beasts lurking within the valley while he is waiting for us."

Yao Minghao spoke with a respectful and polite tone. He was part of the Yao clan, but Zhuang Shao Ju was still far stronger than him, so it was only right that he respected her.

"That's the least he can do after calling us over to such a distant place."

Zhuang Shao Ju puffed out her cheeks as she continued to complain slightly. But walking furthest in the back, Yao Jun's expression twisted slightly. They were going to meet up with Wei Zhong Jun? Just having Zhuang Shao Ju know that he was hiding his strength was bad enough, but now Wei Zhong Jun was also going to join them. Yao Jun once more started playing with the thought of escaping.

"You look like you didn't expect us to go meet up with Burly Jun. Don't worry, he might be a brute, but he has some tact at least, he won't blow your cover. Hopefully."

Zhuang Shao Ju's voice rang out in Yao Jun's ears while he was considering whether or not he should simply escape and travel on his own. Dealing with the increasingly common hordes of Demonic beasts would be tough, but the other option was the others possibly finding out that he was hiding his strength, and then getting suspicious at why he had so many powers.

"As for why we are meeting up with him, he sent us a message through Little Ju-Ju, telling us that he had found what seemed to be an ancient ruin containing treasures. The catch is that the ruin seems to be filled with danger, so it is going to require the strength of all of us to break through and find the treasure. Only after we have done that will we head towards the center."

Zhuang Shao Ju's voice rang out in Yao Jun's ears again, shortly explaining why they were going to meet up with Wei Zhong Jun. She wanted to rely on Yao Jun's hidden strength to help deal with the other people of the group if things went awry, so she had to of course give him another reason to help her, other than just the fact that she knew the fact that he was hiding his strength. Because of that, she tried to share as much information as she could with him.

–

While Yao Jun and the others were traveling through the hidden realm, there was also a large amount of activity taking place outside the hidden realm. Several groups belonging to the four clans and the Demon Race had gathered outside the hidden realm, keeping a constant watch on any changes.

It was thanks to this constant watch that they had discovered an alarming fact in the recent days, the entire hidden realm was getting increasingly unstable. It had already reached a state where they feared that enough stimulus would cause the entire hidden realm to collapse, shattering the land and space around the entrance.

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